Design

The Avro Anson was to meet a RAF Coastal Command requirement for a reconnaissance aircraft. It was based on the six seat Avro 652 airliner.

The Anson's skeleton was made from metal and the skin from wood and fabric.

In January 1936 the rudder area was increased due to some instability.

Crew

The pilot had the only controls. The navigator / bombardier sat behind him with a plotting table and instrument panel. The radio operator / gunner sat at the rear of the cabin.

Bomber

The bombardier used a Wimperis Mk VIIB bombsight. He would go through a panel in the floor and move forward to the front of the plane.

Armament

The turret in the top of the cabin was a manually operated Armstrong Whitworth turret. It had a 7.7 mm Lewis Mk 3A machine gun. It had five drums of ammunition. When not being used the barrel was lowered into a slot in the fuselage.

Radar Equipped

In 1944 a version had radar installed and the Royal Navy used them for training.

Undercarriage

The undercarriage of the Avro Anson was the first RAF plane to have retractable landing gear.

The rear wheel was fixed and the main wheels required 164 1/2 turns of a handle to raise them. Later models had hydraulically operated gear.

Prototype

It first flew on March 24, 1935, and entered service in 1936.

Production

Production models had a 25% increase in the tail plane span and a reduction in the elevator area over the prototypes.

3,000 of them had Wright, Jacobs, or Pratt and Whitney engines installed when they were manufactured in Canada.
2,882 were constructed in Canada.
These were the Anson Mk II, Mk V, Mk VI, Mk X, Mk XI, and Mk XII.

Production continued until 1952 and remained in RAF service until 1968.

Type 652: 4

Anson Mk I: 6,742

Anson Mk II: 1,832

Anson Mk III / Anson Mk IV: 223

Anson Mk V: 1,050

Anson Mk VI: 1

Anson Mk X: 103

Anson Mk XI: 91

Anson Mk XII: 254

Anson Mk 18: 25

Anson Mk 19: 325

Anson Mk 20: 60

Anson Mk 21: 252

Anson Mk 22: 34

Total: 10,996, 11,000, 11,020

Manufacturer: A. V. Roe and Co. Ltd, Federal Aircraft Ltd.

Variants

Anson Mk I:

Anson Mk II: Produced by Federal Aircraft Ltd in Canada. First flew in August 1941. Supplied to United States as AT-20. Nose was molded plastic and plywood.

Anson Mk III: Airframe built in Great Britain and converted to taken new engines by de Havilland Aircraft of Canada.

Anson Mk IV: Airframe built in Great Britain and converted in Canada to take new engines.

Anson Mk V: Produced by Federal Aircraft Ltd Canada. The fuselage was made primarily from plywood and plastic. First flew in November 1942.

Anson Mk X: Conversion to transport. Floor was made stronger for cargo.

Anson Mk XI: Conversion to transport. Roof was raised to allow for more headroom. Landing gear and flaps were hydraulic.

Anson Mk XII: Conversion to transport.

Usage

The Anson was used by Australia, Britain, Canada, Egypt, Estonia, Finland, France, Greece, Iran, Ireland, Netherlands, Turkey, and the United States.

First entered service in (March 1936) 1936 with the No. 48 Squadron. It saw it's first combat on September 5, 1939 by attacking a U-Boat. Eventually a total of 8,138 were delivered to the Royal Air Force.

It could turn inside a Messerschmitt Bf 109 and was credited with shooting down six. Two of these were shot down by the No. 500 Squadron during the evacuation of Dunkirk.

From 1941 several air-sea rescue squadrons were outfitted with the Anson.

Canada selected the Anson in 1940 to be it's primary trainer. These were mostly Anson Mk IIIs and Mk IVs.